Begun online in 2004 and published by Abrams in 2006, "Mom's Cancer" won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize, the 2007 Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and the 2007 German Youth Literature Prize for non-fiction. It was nominated for a 2006 Quill Book Award, a 2006 Cybil Literary Award, the American Library Association's "2007 Best Books for Young Adults" Award, and two 2007 Eisner Awards. I am as surprised as anyone.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

First Review Is In

When it was a webcomic, Mom's Cancer was fortunate to be reviewed by several websites and blogs, some of which I list on my"Reviews & Interviews" page. I appreciated them all.

But the January 30 issue of "Publishers Weekly" magazine definitely takes it up a notch with the first review of the book. PW is the Bible of the literary world, read by publishers, booksellers, writers, and readers for 134 years. People who buy, sell, and love books make decisions based on PW's judgment. It is enormously influential.

Good thing they liked my book.

The entire review has been added to my Amazon.com listing and may be available on the PW website here (sometimes I can access it, sometimes I can't). It's not long. Respecting PW's copyright, I'll just provide the first and final sentences here:

"Don't let the title put you off: collecting the Eisner Award-winning Webcomic of the same name, this story is more about how a life-altering event affects an entire family than another Lifetime disease-of-the-week story...."

"...The clean, simple comic-strip quality of Fies's art fits the story perfectly, highlighting the gravity of the situation while cutting away undue sentimentality. Mom's Cancer is a quiet, courageous account of one family's response to a universal situation."

I'm especially happy that the reviewer picked up on some of the style, tone, and story-telling choices that I made very deliberately. They "got" it. That's very gratifying.